Mood: The way the READER feels when reading a story
Answer the following prompt in a well-written paragraph. Write in complete sentences.
The mood of this story is set when the author describes the town of Maycomb in the paragraphs below. Read this description and state what mood the author is trying to invoke and identify the specific words and images that lead you to identifying the mood.
Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass on the sidewalks, and the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flocked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks in the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frosting of sweat and sweet talcum. People moved slowly then. The ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything. A day was twenty-four long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself.
On your own:
Read the following pages and state what mood the author is trying to invoke and identify specific words and images that help you identify the mood.
Page 201 "We were taking...." - page 204 "Hey Mr. Cunningham"
Answer the following prompt in a well-written paragraph. Write in complete sentences.
The mood of this story is set when the author describes the town of Maycomb in the paragraphs below. Read this description and state what mood the author is trying to invoke and identify the specific words and images that lead you to identifying the mood.
Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass on the sidewalks, and the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flocked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks in the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frosting of sweat and sweet talcum.
People moved slowly then. The ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything. A day was twenty-four long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself.
On your own:
Read the following pages and state what mood the author is trying to invoke and identify specific words and images that help you identify the mood.
Page 201 "We were taking...." - page 204 "Hey Mr. Cunningham"